2004 Forester wheel alignment and whining noise

[Cricket Fan]

Hi,

I see a couple of problems with my 1 month, 2000 miles old 2004
forester xs. I would appreciate other owners experiences -
1. The alignment is off! The car swerves to the right if the steering
is held in 0 degrees. I see in this news groups that others have had
similar problems. Is it fairly straight forward to get this taken
care-of at the dealership? I would appreciate any feedback especially
with Stevens creek subaru in San Jose, CA. I am surprised at such a
fragile alignment in a awd vehicle!

2. I hear is a whining noise at steady speeds between 65-80mph. Is
this just a normal process of breaking into the new car?

Any similar experiences would be helpful.
Thank you and happy independence day.

-new forester fan.

 

[Henry Paul]

Can you tell where the whining noise is coming from? Also, do you have an
auto or stick? If stick, does the whine persist with the transmission in
neutral and the vehicle in motion?

If the dealer can't do the alignment, I think it costs around $50 at a local
shop. Some tire shops like Les Schwab can do it.

 

[Jim Stewart]

Hi,

I see a couple of problems with my 1 month, 2000 miles old 2004
forester xs. I would appreciate other owners experiences -
1. The alignment is off! The car swerves to the right if the steering
is held in 0 degrees. I see in this news groups that others have had
similar problems. Is it fairly straight forward to get this taken
care-of at the dealership? I would appreciate any feedback especially
with Stevens creek subaru in San Jose, CA. I am surprised at such a
fragile alignment in a awd vehicle!

It should be trivial to fix and not be a problem
in the future. My 99 Legacy has nearly 100k miles,
has never been aligned, tracks beautifully straight
down the road, and doesn't wear tires. I'd expect
no less from yours once you get it fixed.

BTW, the Legacy is the *only* car I've ever owned
that didn't need routine alignment.

2. I hear is a whining noise at steady speeds between 65-80mph. Is
this just a normal process of breaking into the new car?

Put the antenna down and see if it goes away.

 

[ismlv]

Same here on my 99 Legacy SUS. Never been aligned and still going strong after 85K miles. Had to get a new set of tires at 60K miles and I
was quite happy with the factory ones (XWRs I think) so I put those on 25K miles ago. No one can believe I've never had an alignment and got
that many mail on factory tires.

 

[Cricket Fan]

Thanks for the feedback.
The noise appears to come from the engine. It is an automatic. I
only hear it during steady hwy speeds. The noise seems to be similar
to the noise when belts get worn-off. But this is too new a car to
have belts worn-off.

-sanjay

 

[Cricket Fan]

It should be trivial to fix and not be a problem
in the future. My 99 Legacy has nearly 100k miles,
has never been aligned, tracks beautifully straight
down the road, and doesn't wear tires. I'd expect
no less from yours once you get it fixed.

Agree! $50 at the shop is not a big deal. But it bugs me that a
vehicle that supposedly should be able to handle unpaved but level
roads should loose its alignment without even venturing outside the
pavement.

BTW, the Legacy is the *only* car I've ever owned
that didn't need routine alignment.


Put the antenna down and see if it goes away.

I do not see an antenna on this car. I believe it is built into the
frame or the windshield.

Thanks.
-sanjay

 

[Henry Paul]

You might check the belt tension just the same. New belts will stretch a bit
and need to be tightened after a little use. I replaced my A/C belt about a
thousand miles ago. When the weather got hot, it started to squeal a little
bit. I checked the tension and it was a little loose.

 

[Henry Paul]

Being that it is only a month old, some things can probably come loose in
shipping the car. Getting it fixed once should be ok, but I would look to
see if it happens again. Then you might have a more serious problem.

 

[Curt]

I do not see an antenna on this car. I believe it is built into the
frame or the windshield.

FYI, the antenna is in the rear side window on the 2004 Forester

Curt

 

[Rockin Ronnie]

rester fan.......

Return to your dealer and discuss the issue with them. Also, take out
another 2004 Forester and listen to the sounds that it makes. You may
either have a problem or you may be listening to typical 4 cylinder/auto
trans subie sounds.

As far as the alignment is concerned, the stresses of shipping a car
(tie downs etc.) may kick the alignment out a smidgen. The dealer should
put it right.

Ron

05 OBW

 

[Edward Hayes]

Same thing on my 2000 Forester. Returned the car ASAP to dealer for a FREE
alignment as it's part of the pre-delivery inspection. An addition: insist
on getting a copy of the before AND after computerized alignment values as
it may be needed if you have tire warranty or alignment issues down the
road. ed

 

[joe]

PLEASE, PLEASE, if you figure out what is causing the whining noise
let me know. We've had this problem since we purchased our forester 3
years ago. Only one of the several dealers we took the car to could
give us an explanation, but said the "cost" to fix it wasn't worth it.
So we never knew for sure if his analysis was correct. Said it was
better to live with it than to take transmission or differential?
apart to fix it. Now we are just waiting to get rid of the car.
Whining noise begins at around 55-60 mph, only on acceleration, ie,
take your foot off the gas and it stops. But what a nuisance on a
highway trip for any distance. I was very disappointed with Subaru;
but have found only one other who had this problem and don't know how
they resolved it.

 

[Cricket Fan]

Thats a bummer. I shall most certainly do so. So far, I haven't had
a very good experience at the Stevens Creek Subaru Circus. We didn't
even go past the alignment issue. They apparently, adjusted the
alignment but that hasn't fixed anything. Talking to the technicians
and the service personnel, it seems like the best circus clown-act in
all of bay area cannot be found any where else - not even at a circus!

BTW, any bay-area residents, avoid stevens creek subaru service shop
like a plague. They will waste your time, call you a liar, will not
get the job done on time or to your satisfaction, lie about how and
when the car will be serviced, provide shuttle service condescendingly
and then even ask you if they can forward their resumes to you to
pursue careers in computer science.

I haven't seen more disgruntled and unknowledgable service center. I
got back the alignment report back from them and even the supposedly
"fixed" alignment showed to be out of spec. Besides, the alignment
report states the specs to be for 2003 forester and not 2004 forester.
There may not be any difference in the specs between a 2003 and 2004
forester. But it just goes on to show how seriously they take their
work.

Happy driving! I shall post my finding about the whining noise.
Take care.

 

[Cricket Fan]

This morning took the forester to another service center. The
mechanic mentioned that the noise is from the front differential.
There is one parameter for which the tolerance in the spec is between
15000 to 30000. I am guessing the numbers mean 15000th or 30000th of
an inch. If the tolerance on a particular differential is close to
30000 then it will emit such a noise. This noise will only occur when
stepped on the gas peddle i.e. when the power is passing through the
differential. He mentioned that this will not put unnecessary wear on
the differential and it can safely be ignored.

He also mentioned, that they have been trying to get Subaru to pay
attention to this spec since a few years.

 

[Henry Paul]

If that is the case I wonder if a thicker gear oil would help the noise.

 

[George Adams]

From: "Henry Paul"

If the tolerance on a particular differential is close to
He mentioned that this will not put unnecessary wear on

If that is the case I wonder if a thicker gear oil would help the noise.

My 1998 Forester has been making that noise for 198,000 miles now....I wouldn't
change anything if I were you. The time to worry is when it stops whining. {;-)


George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller